Modi pens book on RSS leaders

After Prime Minister-in-waiting L.K. Advani, it is now the turn of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi to turn author. Modi has just penned a book that was released on Monday in the presence of RSS stalwart Mohan Bhagwat and Sadhvi Ritambhara.

It is too early to say whether Modi's book would kick off a storm of controversy as Advani's memoirs did. The book is being viewed by political observers as the chief minister's attempt to patch up with his parent organisation, the RSS.

The 200-page book in Gujarati is not Modi's autobiography but his tributes to 16 RSS leaders who strengthened the organisation in Gujarat. The publisher is a Modi camp follower, Gopal Makadiya, whose brother Pravin Makadiya is the BJP legislator from Upleta in Saurashtra region.

Asked about what was Modi's inspiration, Gopal Makadiya told the Hindustan Times that he and the chief minister had had long discussions on the need to document the contribution of the little-known 'pracharaks' of the RSS in Gujarat.